Teaching social studies to high school students with academic handicaps in a mainstreamed setting: effects of a computerized study guide

This research investigated the effectiveness of a computerized study guide, in comparison to a notetaking condition, as a method to increase textbook comprehension among students with learning disabilities and remedial education pupils enrolled in a ninth-grade world geography class. Results indicated that the computerized study guide produced significantly higher performance than notetaking for both groups of students. There was no significant difference in the performance of the two groups within treatments. Several practical issues concerning the implementation of computerized study guides in secondary programs serving students with academic handicaps are discussed.     

Barriers to professional education of NSW correctional officers: A case of distance learning

This study aimed to determine whether NSW prison officers who attempt tertiary education are confronted with any unique cultural and contextual impediments during their studies and, if so, the effects of these impediments. Semi‐structured interviews were carried out, face‐to‐facc with 16 prison officers. The study also contrasts the experiences of commissioned and non‐commissioned correctional officers.

Three major thematic strands emerged from the data. The first clear theme involves the general barriers to learning encountered by prison officers engaged in tertiary studies. These barriers include time constraints and time management, family commitments and access to support mechanisms. The second major theme concerns the influence on the education process of the powerful occupational culture that has developed in the prison workplace. The third theme highlights the difficulties the occupation of prison officer presents for those individuals pursuing tertiary studies in the distance education mode. Geographically isolated work locations, a changing shift roster and high levels of job‐related stress all conspire against the success of prison officers as ‘distance learners’.     

Assessment of semi-empirical mass transfer correlations for pervaporation treatment of wastewater contaminated with chlorinated hydrocarbons

INTRODUCTION Chlorinated hydrocarbons, a class of widely used dry-cleaning liquids, industrial organic solvents, and degreasers, increasingly find their way into drinking water sources, thus posing a very serious health and environmental problem (Love and Eliers, 1982). These organic solvents are known for their stability in the environment and cancer-causing po- tency and cannot be effectively and economically eliminated by current conventional treatment tech- nologies. One of the few av…     

Factors influencing environmental attitude: The relationship between environmental attitude defensibility and cognitive reasoning level

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between factors believed to contribute to the formation of environmental attitudes by college nonscience majors. Key relationships addressed were the effects of a university environmental studies course on (a) environmental attitudes, (b) the amount of factual information that is brought to bear on an environmental attitude decision (defensibility), and (c) the linkages between the affective and the cognitive domains of freshman and sophomore students. When compared to the control group, the students who attended an environmental studies class did not significantly change their attitudes, but they did exhibit increases in their total [F(3, 132) = 5.91, p < 0.01] and count [F(3, 132) = 4.86, p < 0.01] levels of defensibility. These findings corroborate work performed by Kinsey (1978) and Kinsey and Wheatley (1980, 1984). In addition, students in the environmental studies course who had higher cognitive reasoning scores were more prone to increase defensibility [F(6, 129) = 3.78, p < 0.01]. These data imply a linkage between cognitive and affective domains in the environmental attitude decision-making process.     

Sexual abuse and exploitation of children and adults with mental retardation and other handicaps

There is growing recognition that children, adolescents, and adults who are mentally retarded are particularly vulnerable to sexual abuse and exploitation and are in need of intervention services. These people are especially vulnerable due to ther often life-long dependence on caregivers, relatively powerless position in society, emotional and social insecurities, and lack of education regarding sexuality and sexual abuse. In addition the mental health functioning and emotional development of individuals who are mentally retarded are not well understood, and many professionals remain uneducated about their mental health needs. To work effectively with this population, mental health professionals and educators must be alert to what is known about the sexual abuse and exploitation of persons with mental retardation. Furthermore, they need to become educated about the rights of these persons to special legal protection from abuse and neglect and to appropriate and effective mental health interventions. The challenge for mental health professionals and educators is to protect persons who are mentally retarded from sexual abuse and exploitation, to provide appropriate psychotherapeutic interventions when abuse occurs, to respect their right to developmentally appropriate knowledge about sexuality and sexual abuse, and to allow for the fulfillment of their sexuality.     

Using Spacing to Enhance Diverse Forms of Learning: Review of Recent Research and Implications for Instruction

Every day, students and instructors are faced with the decision of when to study information. The timing of study, and how it affects memory retention, has been explored for many years in research on human learning. This research has shown that performance on final tests of learning is improved if multiple study sessions are separated—i.e., “spaced” apart—in time rather than massed in immediate succession. In this article, we review research findings of the types of learning that benefit from spaced study, demonstrations of these benefits in educational settings, and recent research on the time intervals during which spaced study should occur in order to maximize memory retention. We conclude with a list of recommendations on how spacing might be incorporated into everyday instruction.